The 199th Safe Haven Baby Box in the U.S. will be blessed tomorrow afternoon (Friday, February 2, 2024) in Roane County at 1 p.m. Eastern at the Kingston Fire Station #1 at 125 West Cumberland Street.

Community members are encouraged to attend and learn more about the program dedicated to ending infant abandonment.

Last May, a baby was surrendered in Tennessee’s 1st Baby Box in Knoxville.

The Safe Haven baby boxes were formed by Monica Kelsey in 2016 as she learned in adulthood that she was abandoned as an infant.

Today, the organization fights tirelessly to protect women in crisis and their infants in a mission to end infant abandonment The organization aids women in crisis with their National Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1. The hotline provides free, confidential counseling with expertise in each state’s Safe Haven Law.

If a woman chooses to surrender her infant via the baby box, the door locks when the mother closes the box. Alarms alert the location that a baby has been surrendered and personnel will retrieve the infant within five minutes.

(picture shows inside the box viewed inside the safe drop off location)

The infant will immediately be transported to the hospital for medical evaluation. The baby will then be placed with an adoptive family.